With less than two weeks to go in one of the most brutal and contentious election seasons since the outbreak of the Civil War, The Black Star News is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. Secretary Clinton was not our first choice in 2016 - our first; independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders- but as New York Daily News Justice Corespondent Shaun King has stated, we too believe Hillary has politically "evolved" over the course of this election. In other words, thanks to Bernie Sanders' 21 state primary and caucus victories last spring, Hillary Clinton banked far to the progressive left in order to stave him off and get in tune with the majority of Democratic party voters. And it is within this dynamic that The Black Star News has made the choice to endorse Hillary Clinton.

With Hillary Clinton in the White House, progressive senators like Sanders, Massachusetts's Elizabeth Warren and Ohio's Sherrod Brown will be chaperoning her presidency every step of the way, particularly if Democrats can win back the Senate and House. If that happens this November, progressives around the nation will be dancing in the streets. No more GOP gridlock that blocked Obama's every move and just like with gay marriage, the foundations of America will shift under our feet. Police and criminal justice reform, economic inequality, wage stagnation, global warming will all be front and center with a HRC presidency and Democratic house and senate as we push her along.

That is why we are also urging voters across America to vote for Hillary Clinton and for the Democratic party line in all down ballot races nationwide. On this election day, America needs to send a resounding and clear message to the GOP.

Never again! Never again will the GOP nominate a racist, unqualified, frightening sociopath for president of the United States. For this, punishment for the GOP punishment should be swift and severe at the national, state and local level on election day. For it is the GOP that enabled and allowed this Trump/Alt-right virus of hate to metastasize in the national political discourse for the last 18 months and it is they that should pay the political price for it. The timid response to Trump from House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders is- quite frankly- just as pathetic as Trump's shameless White army and is reflective of the entire GOP at every level.

And for those planning to vote third party while Trump's hurricane of hate and white nationalism is hitting maxim wind strength, that choice is almost as cavaliar and aloof as the GOP is behaving. It was only 16 years ago- after eight years of Bill Clinton- that progressives were regally choosing to vote for Al Gore or Ralph Nader in November, 2000. Those third party votes collectively- most notably in Florida- paved the way for Bush's unilateral invasion of Iraq in 2003. Progressives inclined to vote Jill Stein or Gary Johnson in swing states should contemplate a mushroom cloud looming over the horizon set off by a President Donald Trump before making their noble, "vote of conscience." Why take a gamle that irrational may turn out to be rational? Third party votes also lets Trump, Ryan and all the other GOP bigots off the hook for one the most vilest and toxic campaigns in America history.

Even for news organizations, it is difficult to keep up with all the disgusting, racist, xenophobic, sexist, insane and downright dishonest comments spewing from Donald Trump's radioactive mouth and Twitter account on a daily basis, but lets just look at the last nut-ball conspiracy theory bubbling out of the depraved Trump campaign- that this presidential election is "rigged" for Hillary Clinton by - get this- "Black people."

Can a presidential candidate say anything more dangerous and reckless than that? In fact in over 200 years of presidential elections, no presidential candidate from either party has ever said anything so destructive and self serving as Trump has in 2016. It is one thing for Trump to viciously lash out at anyone who disagrees with or is critical of him and his outlandish behavior, but it is utterly abominable for him to agree to the 227 years of democratic presidential election rules in the United States for over a year and six months, only to question it's validity weeks before the vote. Blaming African-Americans for unfairly pulling the levers of democracy sounds like a narrative from an old Klu Klux Klan comic book. Since when did African-Americans actually have control of American democracy?

As surreal as Trump's desperate accusations have become, it appears to be part of an overall nation wide strategy to suppress minority voters in all 44 "open carry" states, that include every crucial "swing sate." Trump and his goon squad have already put the word out to White nationalist "Alt-Right" activists to show up armed at Black polling places to "observe" the "election process" for "irregularities." If that occurs, we encourage the Obama administration to roll out the National Guard in rapid succession across the country to protect every citizen's right to vote on election day from the gun violence expected from Trump's White supremacist supporters.

Trump's apparent ominous game plan to storm the White House through mob-violence should be chilling enough for GOP Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence to withdraw his name from the race. As someone who boasts of an "evangelical" calling to God, it is morbidly outrageous to partner up with a demagogue who apparently is pro-sexual assault and is openly planning the gang rape of lady democracy with his Alt-right thugs on election day and beyond.

Mr. Pence, have you any dignity left?

All these potentially catastrophic forces and factors are a clear and present danger for this nation, its people and the entire world population. That is why The Black Star News urges voting for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party ticket down the line in every race across the country on election day.